Automattic Grand Meetup 2016

Here it is, the massive, picture-heavy post recapping our big yearly company meetup. This year (and I hope next year and beyond) it took place in Whistler, British Columbia. What a gorgeous setting! Getting there wasn’t my favorite (mostly because of the two-plus hour bus ride from the Vancouver airport) but once we were there, it was fantastic.

Mountains on the way! (And a bus window reflection)

The view from our room. The hotel on the left is where half of the company stayed.

My crazed “I GOT POUTINE FINALLY!!!” face.

I feel like they could be twinsies.

More potential twinsies. (Or triplets since Mikey is in both pics.)

KarKar and me.

The first day was our team day, so I spent the first half with the hiring team, and the second half with all of Happiness.

Athena! Love.

Karen and a bunch of HEs.

Beckett and I got up early one morning and went for a run around a 3.5 mile loop. It was hilly (mountainous, even, for this NOLA girl) and I almost ran all of it. Except for a few steep uphills. I wish I had better photos of the route, but they’re all blurry.

We spent time over the next few days in classes, and I didn’t really take pictures there. But here are a bunch of pretty pictures of Whistler Village:

The whole company took a pic. See if you can find me!

On our activity day, I went up the mountain in a gondola with a few others. It was terrifying and fun and awesome and gorgeous. We hiked a bit, saw some snow, rode a chairlift into a cloud, and saw a giant rainbow. Good stuff.

Video of the chairlift up. It was incredibly quiet and peaceful. Except when I was shrieking in terror. (Kidding.)

On the way up.

My terror-filled face on the chairlift.

Snow! And rocks that we would have plummeted to.

SNOWBALL!!!!!

It was v foggy/cloudy up there. And snowing a bit? Or sleeting? Let’s just say snow.

The chairlift down looked WAY scarier, but because we couldn’t see anything, it was okay! I took a time lapse video of it:

More pics on a mountain:

On the way up.

The weather was so random, as you can see from those photos. Turn one way, and it would be cloudy and gray, and in another direction, sunny and blue.

After the chairlift, we took the peak-to-peak gondola between Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. It was pretty crazy.

The cable droops between the peaks. So weird and cool and kind of scary.

High above the trees.

A river runs through it. (The valley)

Don’t come up behind the animals and touch them on the back.

A12s in a gondola!

GOLD!!!!

One day I had some free time and spent it hiking with some friends. We went to Lost Lake, and I don’t think we found the path with the incredible views everyone else got, but it was a lovely hike and I did get some nice pics.

Wait up!

Picturesque stream.

Picturesque path.

Elizabeth capturing the picturesque view.

Picturesque Lost Lake

More lake that was lost.

Random rocks.

I have a thing for “path” pictures.

Picturesque grass.

Does it chap my hide that my favorite pic was taken with my iPhone? Maybe a bit.

Ahhhhh. Nice.

The WWWP5K was Monday morning, and it was on the same path that Beckett and I ran a few days before. The distance was a bit vague, but we ran straight for 37 minutes WITHOUT STOPPING AND ON HILLS AND STUFF so I figure we covered at least 3.1 miles. I guess Orange Theory works after all, eh? I haven’t really run distances in a while, so I was very pleased about this.

Proud of those feet.

Okay, one more batch of pics from our closing party. I was wise this year and didn’t stay up until 4am the night before, so I was able to enjoy it a bit more.

YUM.

YES INDEED.

Clicky wins.

The toast.

The stage.

A12s rock!

Tutu queens!

My beautiful be-wigged team.

But not too much, as I had to be up at 3am to catch the bus back to Vancouver, and then fly home for a zillion hours (whyever United thinks a layover in Newark between Vancouver and NOLA is a good idea, I’ll never know.)

First meal in Canada, last meal in Canada.

Finally made it home at 10:30pm, to many, many, many hugs from my boys. Here’s what Oliver drew before I got home. (RIP me.)